The communities and local government department (DCLG) said its latest data showed that at least 257 out of 421 authorities intended to accept the government's grant offer and freeze or reduce their council tax for 2013-14, though the final numbers would not be known until later this month.

The local government minister, Brandon Lewis, recently praised Cotswold district council following its decision in February to reduce council tax by 5% for 2013-14, which has been described as the biggest cut in the country.

The DCLG said the government had set aside £450m over two years as part of the autumn statement package to help support local authorities in freezing their council tax for the coming financial year. It highlighted a recent survey by pollsters Ipsos Mori in which 64% of those asked disagreed with the statement "I would be happy to pay more council tax if it helped my local council maintain current levels of service".

Separate research by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy suggested 41% of councils will shun the call to resist raising bills in April, despite the offer of a 1% grant in return, and indicated the average increase among councils opting to increase bills would be 1.1%.

Meanwhile, local government secretary Eric Pickles announced a change that will allow people to pay their council tax bills over a year instead of 10 months.

"As council tax bills starting landing on doormats in the next few weeks, people will discover they can now pay online or set up their direct debit payment plans for 12 months instead of the old 10," he said. "This important change will help local taxpayers safeguard their family finances by lowering their payments for 10 months by about £24 with just a simple phone call."